Jury Instructions for the Modern Age nicate to anyone any information about this case or to conduct any research about this case until you have returned your verdict and the trial has concluded.405
Texas – Civil: Modern; Criminal: Archaic Civil Instructions In December 2010, the Texas Supreme Court amended the state’s civil procedure rules to require admonitions against using the Internet and social media to discuss or research cases.406 Immediately after jurors are selected for a case, the court must instruct them to turn off their phones and other electronic devices and not to communicate with anyone through any electronic device while they are in the courtroom or while they are deliberating. The court must also instinct them that, while they are serving as jurors, they must not post any information about the case on the Internet or search for any information outside of the courtroom, including on the Internet, to try to learn more about the case. If jurors are permitted to separate before they are released from jurv duty, either during the trial or after the case is submitted to them, the court must instruct them that it is their duty not to communicate with, or permit themselves to be addressed by, any other person about any subject relating to the case.407
A different provision of the Texas civil procedure rules was amended in 2011 to mandate an instruction on juror use of electronic devices immediately after voir dire, and an instruction prior to any recess regarding juror communication about the case. Immediately after jurors are selected for a case, the court must instruct them to turn off their phones and other electronic devices and not to communicate with anyone through any electronic device while they are in the courtroom or while they are deliberating. The court must also instruct them that, while they are serving as jurors, they must not post any information about the case on the Internet or search for any information outside of the courtroom, including on the Internet, to try to learn more about the case. If jurors are permitted to separate before they are released from jury duty, either during the trial or after the case is submitted to them, the court must instruct them that it is their duty not to communicate with, or permit themselves to be addressed by, any other person about any subject relating to the case.408
Fulfilling its own requirements, the court has amended the state’s civil jury instructions to reflect new media technologies, mentioning specific sites and services.409 Thus the instructions given to potential jurors at the beginning of voir dire, once they are sworn, now read as follows: 405. Tenn. Jud. Conf, Comm. on Pattern Jury Instrs. (Crim.), 7 Tenn. Pract. Series, Tenn. Pattern Jury Inst., Crim. 43.14 (2010). 406. Amendments to Tex. R. Civ. Pro. 281 and 284 and to the Jury Instrs. Under Texas R. Civ. Pro. 226a, Misc. Docket No. 11-9047 (order) (Tex. 2011), available at http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/miscdocket/11/11904700.pdf. 407. Tex. R. Civ. P. 284 (2010), as amended by Amendments to Tex. R. Civ. Pro. 281 and 284 and to the Jury Instr. Under Texas R. Civ. Pro. 226a, id. 408. Tex. R. Civ. P. 284. 409. See Amendments to Tex. R. Civ. Pro. 281 and 284 and to the Jury Instrs. Under Texas R. Civ. Pro. 226a, supra. The instructions provide that “the following oral instructions, with such modifications as the circumstances of the particular case may require, shall be given by the court to the jurors after they have been sworn as provided in Rule 226 and before the voir dire examination.” Id. at 3. The Texas Supreme Court is authorized to promulgate the instructions under Texas R. Civ. Pro. 226A, which provides that “The court must give instructions to the jury panel and the jury as prescribed by order of the Supreme Court under this rule.” Texas R. Civ. Pro. 226A (2010). Reynolds Courts & Media Law Journal
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